March 19, 2024
Congratulations! You ordered your food in reusable delivery service or took it with you on site and thus made your contribution to avoiding single-use plastic. But what now? There are several ways to return our Vytals. We will be happy to help you with the return and any difficulties you may have. Renting the Vytals is free for two weeks, after which you would be charged. In general, however, the faster they are back in the system, the more sustainable it is, because then the partners can rinse, refill and reissue them.
If you go to "Currently Borrowed" in the app and then "Show more", you will see the containers you currently own. The arrow to the right of the containers will take you to another menu item. There, under "Find the nearest return option", you can find partners in your area who will take back this type of container.
In addition, you can generally see all partners in your vicinity in the bottom bar of the app at the second point. When you click on a partner, you'll see the containers they're taking back, as well as opening hours and other information.
With many partners, you can then simply drop off the containers and they will scan them into their inventory immediately or as soon as they have time. However, some partners also have a return QR code hanging on site (e.g. bakery). You then have to scan the return QR code as well as the QR code of the container via the "Return" item in the app. You can then simply leave the container in place. But please check if this partner really takes back your type of containers, otherwise the scanning will not work either.
In large cities, it is possible to throw the Vytals into public return boxes. Here you don't have to talk to anyone on site, you can simply throw in your containers (clean please!) there. The colleagues on site then scan them back at the end of the day or the next day. So please give your partner at least 24 hours before reporting a container as "returned but still listed." Some of these return boxes are also available in canteens.
Public drop-off boxes are available at the following locations:
Vytal Office Berlin, Raumerstr. 29, 10437 Berlin
Lieferando Office, Schlesische Straße 34, 10997 Berlin
Schlemmer Markt Struve am Großer Burstah, Hermannstr. 46, 20095 Hamburg
Shirleys Submarine Sandwiches, Weißenburgstr. 64, 50670 Cologne
Bambule's Chili Nord, Gladbacher Str. 9, 50672 Cologne
Bambule's Chili Süd, Alteburger Str. 2, 50678 Cologne
Marx & Engels, Venloer Str. 266, 50823 Cologne
The Ship, Vitalistraße 67, 50827 Cologne
Heilandt Coffee Shop | 1, 50937 Cologne
Rewe Hohenzollernring, Hohenzollernring 79, 50672 Cologne
Rewe Opernpassage, Schwertnergasse 1, 50667 Cologne
La Vida Mexicana, Schloßstr. 24, 85256 Vierkirchen
The opening hours are based on the partner's opening hours.
It is also possible to return the containers via Lieferando; but only in individual cities and with certain partners. You can find more information about this in our blog.
In addition, it is possible to return orders via the food delivery service Gorillas in Cologne, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Berlin and Munich.
If the time period is not sufficient, please extend it in the app under "Currently borrowed", "Show more", click on the arrow next to the container and then on "Extend". There you can extend your container by one week for one euro each.
If you have any problems with the return, no matter what form it takes, please feel free to contact our support at hallo@vytal.org at any time and we will find a solution together. You can also report issues with a specific container or partner directly from the app. You can read about the possibilities and how exactly they work in our blog.
Christina Berkele
Customer & Partner Support Agent
